Tropical Cyclone ENAWO - Post-Event Report

Tropical Cyclones (TCs) are among the most damaging events. They affect the population with three dangerous effects: strong wind, heavy rain and storm surge. JRC has developed a system used in Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) that includes the analysis of all these effects for every TC occurring worldwide to assess the overall impact. This document is the first POST-EVENT Report, which is a new type of report produced by the JRC after a major event aimed to report the real status of the impact that occurred, based on media reports, onsite analyses, and satellite images. The event analysed in this report is the intense TC ENAWO, that made landfall in north-eastern Madagascar on 7 March 2017, killing more than 80 people and causing extensive damage, especially in Sava and Analanjirofo regions. Authorities issued a "declaration of national emergency" and formally requested international assistance on 14 March. GDACS issued the first RED alert (for high winds) in Madagascar on 3 March. The Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) of DG ECHO activated ARISTOTLE on 5 March and the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) on 7 March. The responses of the alert and information systems are analysed and the results are compared with the damage reported by national authorities and satellite images analysis. In order to improve the current early warning system and impact estimations, JRC is implementing a new method to evaluate the areas potentially most affected by a TC, using new datasets and classifications. The results are also included in the report.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Manual for CEMS-Rapid Mapping Products: Valid for the portfolio since April 2019, status 31 August 2020

This Manual provides guidance on the use and interpretation of products delivered by the Rapid Mapping service. Rapid Mapping is a module of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS) - one of the six core services of the European Union’s Earth observation programme Copernicus. The JRC is responsible for CEMS and implementing a part of it through service contracts with European industry and academia. Rapid Mapping is one of the two modules under CEMS’ Mapping component, which delivers on-demand geospatial information derived from remote sensing data to support emergencies that require an immediate response. Rapid Mapping in particular provides in rush mode (24/7) geospatial information on the impact of a selected disaster anywhere in the world from optical and radar satellite images (typically at resolutions <10m). It can be directly triggered by the so-called authorised users in the European Member States and other countries participating in the European Civil Protection Mechanism (one authorised user per country, typically the civil protection authority) through DG ECHO’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre in Brussels. Not authorised users can activate the service through an authorised user. This manual is the reference document to which any user should refer for handling Rapid Mapping products. The product delivery package of Rapid Mapping contains a series of ready-to-print maps and a vector data package. This manual gives a detailed overview of the product characteristics, describing hence the ready-to-print maps and the vector data package. The document is an updated and extended version of the “Product User Manual of Copernicus EMS Rapid Mapping” (Dorati et al., 2018) and reflects changes which were introduced in the product portfolio in April 2019. The initial version was extended to increase transparency and usability of the products. Added were sections on e.g. ready-to-print maps, quality control, product releases. The content of this manual is also available online at https://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/ems/online-manual-rapid-mapping-products. This technical report reflects the status as of 31 August 2020. The online manual is updated regularly whenever minor revisions are made. New versions of this technical report will be issued only in case there are major changes to the portfolio.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Linking Early Warning Systems with Rapid Mapping - Procedure for pre-tasking of satellites for disaster impact mapping

This is a technical document describing the step-by-step procedure for pre-tasking of satellites for disaster impact mapping in the frame of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS). Pre-tasking is done following alerts for upcoming disasters issued by early warning systems (in this case by the European Flood Awareness System) which are either operated under CEMS or under other frameworks. Disaster impact mapping is performed under Rapid Mapping, the 24/7/365 on-demand service of CEMS. The procedure has been integrated into the standard operating procedures of the Emergency Response Coordination Center of DG ECHO.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

2017 User Workshop of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service – Summary Report

This report summarises the User Workshop of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMS) – Mapping component which was held on 20-21 June 2017 at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra, Italy. The User Workshop is the annual forum at which users, service providers, the Commission and other stakeholders exchange views and experiences of the Copernicus EMS - Mapping component. It was attended by 50 participants from across Europe, of whom eighteen were users of this service component. The focus of the User Workshop was on the two on-demand Mapping services - i.e. “Rapid Mapping” and “Risk and Recovery Mapping” - which provide geo-spatial information in support to all phases of disaster management. The information is mainly derived from satellite imagery and complemented by available ancillary data. During the first day of the Workshop, the focus was on providing insights in the technical and scientific capacity of the “Risk & Recovery” Mapping service, which delivers maps and analysis in support of disaster risk reduction, preparedness and prevention, recovery and reconstruction. The aim of this part of the Workshop was to increase awareness of this service module, which is less known than the “Rapid Mapping” service - the “24/7” (i.e. always on) service supporting emergency response operations. Users were invited to present their experience with both service modules, while a live demo of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), was made, in order to show the potential of these platforms in the context of the fast provision of airborne imagery in an emergency situation. The second day of the Workshop addressed the evolution of Copernicus EMS - Mapping. Two Horizon 2020 projects were introduced and discussed: while iREACT (http://www.i-react.eu/) looks at exploiting advanced cyber technologies for disaster management, E2mC (https://www.e2mc-project.eu/) focuses on exploiting social data and crowdsourcing for use in Rapid Mapping. Other evolution-related topics addressed were links with the two Copernicus EMS Early Warning Systems (i.e. the European Flood Awareness System and the European Forest Fire Information System), product dissemination and potential new products. All topics were further discussed in groups. As every year, the discussions at the User Workshop are summarised and processed by the JRC, with a view to guiding the overall evolution of the service. The workshop agenda and presentations are available at: http://emergency.copernicus.eu/mapping/ems/copernicus-ems-mapping-user-workshop-2017JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

Urban vegetation : detection and function evaluation for air quality assessment

Les villes du monde concentrent la plupart des problèmes environnementaux et paradoxalement, elles présentent la meilleure chance d’assurer un futur durable. La végétation est reconnue comme un élément du système urbain capable de compenser en partie les effets de l’urbanisation. Malgré, elle reste un élément valorisé surtout pour sa propriété esthétique et ses fonctions écologiques sont très peu valorisées. Les résultats de cette thèse contribuent à la mise en valeur de la végétation urbaine. Deux objectifs ont été formulés : l’analyse 1) du potentiel d’utiliser des images hyperspectrales pour la localisation et la caractérisation de la végétation et 2) de l’impact de la végétation sur la qualité de l’air à l’aide d’un modèle micro-climatique. Pour la détection de la végétation nous avons comparé différents indices de végétation. Cette comparaison a révélé qu’un indice qui tenait compte de l’influence du sol et des effets atmosphériques est plus performant que les indices les plus souvent utilisés. Pour l’extraction de différentes espèces d’arbre nous avons combiné la méthode de classification supervisée avec différentes méthodes de réduction de bandes. Les simulations micro-climatiques ont montré l’inhibition de la ventilation par des arbres dans des rues. Nous avons analysé l’influence du rapport hauteur-largeur de la rue et de la densité des arbres sur la concentration des particules. A partir de ces résultats nous avons pu montrer l’intérêt de mettre en place des recommandations concrètes pour l’aménagement qui vont au-delà des aspects actuellement considérés dans un projet de planification dans l’objectif d’optimiser les fonctions de la végétation en ville.Although they contribute to many of the world’s environmental problems, cities paradoxically hold the best chance for a sustainable future. Urban vegetation is one element identified as a contributor to the quality of urban environments. Planning strategies generally favour to increase vegetation cover. However, planners still use vegetation mostly as an element of urban design and the potential ecosystem functions are not fully realised. We argue for improved planning practice aimed at optimising the function of vegetation in the urban ecosystem. In this work, two research questions were addressed: evaluation of 1) the potential to detect and characterise urban vegetation using hyperspectral images and 2) the influence of vegetation on air quality in urban streets using a microclimate model. For the detection of vegetation we examined the performance of different vegetation indices and could show that indices including both the influence of the underlying soil and atmospheric effects in the calculation perform better than the commonly used ratio indices. Furthermore, supervised classification was combined with different methods for feature reduction to detect tree species. Class related feature extraction methods perform better than transformations performed on the global dataset. Based on air quality simulations we demonstrated the inhibiting effect of trees on the ventilation in street canyons. We evaluated the influence of the height-to-width ratio of streets flanked by buildings and the density of trees on particle concentration. With the results we showed that general planning strategies, favouring to increase vegetation cover, should be handled with care

CEMS Rapid Mapping

Rapid Mapping is one of the two on-demand mapping services under the Copernicus Emergency Management Service (CEMS). Rapid Mapping delivers geospatial information (in different vector and raster formats) in the midst of or immediately after catastrophic events or humanitarian crises. It is available 24/7/365. Supported disaster types range from natural hazards such as floods, fires, storms, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, landslides, and earthquakes to industrial accidents and humanitarian crises.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

La végétation en ville : détection et évaluation de son impact sur la qualité de l'air

Pas de résuméPas de résum

La végétation en ville : détection et évaluation de son impact sur la qualité de l'air

Pas de résuméPas de résum

Plant richness patterns in agricultural and urban landscapes in central Germany – spatial gradients of species richness. Landscape Urban Plann

Abstract Urban areas are generally inhabited by greater numbers of plant species than rural areas of the same size. Though this phenomenon is well documented, scientists seem to be drawn to opposing views when it comes to explaining the high ratio of alien to native plants. Several ecological concepts claim that in cities, alien species displace native species. However, several studies show that both species groups increase proportionally. Another view tries to correlate the high species number in urban areas to the heterogeneity of the urban landscape. This correlation seems to be evident but still needs to be tested. Most of these findings stem from studies performed on large or intermediate scales using data from official databases. We wanted to confront existing findings and opinions with our study comparing a typical urban with an agricultural landscape section on a local scale. Our results support the view that plant species richness is higher in cities than in surrounding rural areas, partly because of a high rate of alien species brought into cities by humans. However, this species richness stems from an increase in alien as well as native species. Higher species richness is supported by a highly varying landscape structure mainly caused by anthropogenic land use